This first photo is of Harry, Hugh, and Max, and Mr. Guy Fawkes. On Saturday we had a bonfire party at La Girade. It was outdoors, in what will eventually be the backyard terrace of the Tyler’s new house. For the moment it is still only dirt and mud, so all those invited were encouraged to bring their ‘Wellies’ to the party. Wellies are what they call rubber boots in the UK, because they were originally manufactured in a city called Wellington (I think). Trish and Mark cooked up squash soup, sausages (veggies for the vegetarians), and some sort of onion [View Full Entry]

---

---

I learned today that here in France, the government gives welfare to families who have children. They pay people to have kids!! As Laurent explained it to me today, the government begins giving you weekly checks once you are four months into pregnancy, around 160 euros per child (about 200 dollars), then the week you give birth you receive 700 Euros, and then your weekly checks increase as the child gets older. You receive an extra 200 Euros for beginning-of-schoolyear expenses, and then you receive various amounts for other particulars. On top of that, there is universal healthcare in France, which [View Full Entry]

---

---

I am learning more and more about La Girade as we go. Again, La Girade is the house where I am working, and the eventual home of the Tylers. Mark Tyler bought the property from the Carrive family; it had been on the market for twelve years, and eventually the family decided to sell it to the Tylers (about a year ago). The house was home to Jean Carrive and his wife for most of the last century. Jean Carrive was an artist, a painter among other things, and he was part of the Surrealist Movement in France during the earlier [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well, here I am again. In Europe. I arrived back in Gensac, southern France, two days ago. I have been house-sitting for the Tyler family, as they are still on their vacation in Scotland (or England? I can’t remember where they are). I think they get back today. I arrived Tuesday night and crashed almost immediately. Slept for sixteen hours. That is the longest I have ever slept in one night. It makes me think of the first time John (my brother) got back from studying in China and he slept for 24 hours straight (!) and the only reason he [View Full Entry]

---

---

The final baseball practice/rehearsal before the week of filming for The Bronx is Burning was to begin, all of the baseball players/actors were given a shpeel (I use this word all the time but have never tried to spell it) about what the days on the movie set would be like. The gist of it was that filming a movie is boring and tedious, and that most of the time would be spent sitting around doing nothing. Cal (baseball casting director) and Mike (technical director of baseball) could not have been more correct, in fact thus far it has exceeded my [View Full Entry]

---

---

Middletown, CT I am writing from Wesleyan University, here for a few days because they don’t need me on the film shoot today or for the next few days. On Friday I found out who I will be playing in the film; I am Larry Gura, a left-handed pitcher for the Kansas City Royals and ex-Yankee. I will only be in the film briefly, I think, there is a scene where I am pitching and the Yankees head coach Billy Martin (played by John Turtorro) begins heckling me on the mound. The premise for the scene is that there is bad [View Full Entry]

---

---

This morning I headed down into Middletown to buy chapstick, soap, and a coffee. I was waiting at a crosswalk, waiting for the walk light to change. It was early morning in Middletown, and the streets were not very busy. I checked the traffic lights to see if the light was red, and then began to cross. Behind me came a voice saying “you gotta wait for the walk signal.” I turned around and saw a man standing on the curb. His comment took me by surprise; I don’t know when was the last time someone told me not to cross [View Full Entry]

---

---

So my plans have taken a slight turn, and I now have found myself in Norwich Connecticut, back in the US much sooner than I had expected. Last Friday I got an email from my baseball coach at Wesleyan with a bizarre proposition. It was like deja-vu from two years ago when he left a message on my cell phone asking if I was interested in playing baseball in Lithuania. But this time, it was not a playing opportunity; it was a movie opportunity. He told me that there was a movie that would be filmed in a week or so [View Full Entry]

---

---

Leaving Lithuania again. Travel in or from Lithuania is always interesting. My trip from Kaunas to Gensac, France was exhausting. Magilas (Kaunas third baseman) was helping me out with finding a way to get back to France from Lithuania, but unfortunately by the time we began looking, all buses to France were booked. Luckily Magilas found another bus service that was headed to Bordaux, though it was a bit unconventional. It was a minibus service, which is basically a van where the drivers put an ad in the paper saying their destination and advertise a price for a ticket on their [View Full Entry]

---

---

Here are some pictures of Klaipeda, Juodkrante, and Nida. A really beautiful place; I was surprised by how few people there were on the beaches, in the towns and villages, etc., but I guess the tourist season was coming to a close. I had written a longer more descriptive entry about these two places, but it somehow got erased. [View Full Entry]

---

---